Sensors and sensor arrays can be formed from customized integrated circuits. Sensor arrays are often used to sense environmental characteristics or can act as a user input for computing devices. Sensor arrays are often formed on a silicon wafer, using similar processing techniques to those used to fabricate other integrated circuits, such as memories, processors, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and the like.
Sensors, unlike some general purpose integrated circuits, can have unique packaging and mounting requirements. Typical integrated circuits, for example, can have related silicon bonded out, and then packaged. The bonding out steps can couple signals on the silicon to pins or balls on the package. The packaging step can include encapsulating the silicon die in a package (typically plastic or ceramic). The packing can support and protect the otherwise fragile silicon die. However, since sensors are meant to interface with the environment, the packaging steps are often different.
Sensors are often outward facing, and generally exposed to a user environment. Instead of having the silicon die protected by a package, the die is often times exposed on the surface of a supporting element. While such configurations permit the sensor to function, these configurations can be bulky and can take up a relatively large amount of volume, increasing the size of a user device in which the sensor is ultimately used.